US President Joe Biden has proposed that democratic countries form an infrastructure plan to rival China’s ambitious Belt and Road (OBOR) initiative while conversing on the phone with his UK counterpart, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Friday.
“I suggested we should have, essentially, a similar initiative, pulling from the democratic states, helping those communities around the world that, in fact, need help,” Biden told reporters.
The two leaders had spoken to discuss their countries’ respective policies regarding Iran and China, as well as ongoing global COVID-19 vaccine rollout and tackling climate change as a key part of “building back better from the pandemic”.
“They talked about shared international challenges. The leaders agreed on the need for Iran to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal. On China, the prime minister and president reflected on the significant action taken by the UK, US and other international partners earlier this week to impose sanctions on human rights violators in Xinjiang and expressed their concern about retaliatory taken action by China,” a Downing Street spokesperson said, quoted by Reuters.
Joe Biden’s proposal comes as on Thursday he vowed to thwart China’s attempts to outpace the United States and prevail as the most powerful country in the world.
“China has an overall goal … to become the leading country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful country in the world… That’s not going to happen on my watch because the United States is going to continue to grow,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Thursday, during his first press conference since his swearing-in ceremony.
Amid the spiraling rivalry between the two global heavyweights, Biden indicated plans to unveil a multi-trillion-dollar plan to upgrade US infrastructure next week, with emphasis on promising new technologies, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence and biotechnology.
Joe Biden also made reference to “hours upon hours” of interaction with China’s President Xi Jinping when he served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. Biden tore into the Chinese president, saying:
“He (Xi) doesn’t have a democratic – with a small ‘d’ – bone in his body, but he’s a smart, smart guy.”
Biden’s remarks fall in line with contentious public statements made days earlier during the first high-level, in-person talks between US and Chinese officials under his administration in Alaska.
Source: Sputnik
